Introducing Shadow Lake

We have 2 weeks to make our decision about buying this piece of property. The lake is beautiful; over 50 acres, deep, clean, and not very developed due to a good part of the shoreline having been preserved for wetland diversity. That's the good new. The down side is that we are buying a peat bog: aka a swamp. The piece of property however is quite lovely. The forest is very sparse and open, and at this time of year quite green with the moss. The adjoining piece of property is owned by a non-profit organization that is trying to preserve the peat bog ecosystem. One of the last remaining intact bogs in King County. Because of the 1/2 an acre feels much larger.

 This is a community dock at the North end of the lake.

 The distant floating dock comes with the property

 The road to Shadow Lake. We had to park at the gate as we don't have a key. All the land to the right and at the end of the road is part of a protected area.

 Derelict travel trailer.

 The understory.

 Look at this artifact! Was I 'meant' to have this property or what!? Usable picnic table in the background. Just needs a few boards replaced. "Grass" needs mowing (as well as all those noxious sapling. I am sure they are an invasive species.)

 

 

The trailer, although vintage, and at one time very cute is completely trashed and will have to be hauled away. I thought we were going to find human body remains in there. Inexpensive travel trailers though, are easy to find on Craig's list, so I think we will have a cabin-like place to stay come the summer. What did I do before Craig's list? I have also found sunfish and Snarks galore for re-sale, but I think I ought to buy the property before I start to clutter it with boats.

Nathan is 18 today

Happy Birthday Nathan

Monteverde

We again had a very knowledgeable guide just for the two of us. He was very good at finding birds in his telescope. The highlight was a quetzal (you can just make it out among the leaves) but we also saw an emerald toucanet, hummingbirds of many varieties, warblers, jays, quail and probably others I've forgotten. We didn't see any animals except Coati and we had a better view of one that walked across our porch after we got back. The waterfall below was also on that tour.

This was really interesting. It's a caterpillar covered with some sort of insect larvae parasite.  The caterpillar will soon be a goner but was still alive.  We are learning incredible things.

Costa Rica

Our first day was a great success. On our rainforest tour we saw a sloth, a tarantula, wasps digging holes to find tarantula nests, a morpho butterfly, we ate a termite, we saw the volcano giving off steam which is not visible in the picture, and we learned a whole lot about volcanoes.  Today we took a bus, a boat, and another bus to a cloud forest area which is higher than a rain forest. The picture is on the porch of our cabin which is surrounded by lush vegetation.

Spring 2014 Update!

Hello everyone!

I am currently writing this while sitting in a hip new coffee shop I found not too far from school. I decided to come study here today instead of the usual surroundings of my house or even worse, the library. School in the next two weeks is going to be very hectic! Since spring break is right around the corner every class has either papers or tests that are due.

I am doing well in my classes so far though! One of the courses I am enrolled in is a research methods communication course which is mandatory in order to move on to the upper division courses. From what I have heard and have now experienced, this is probably the hardest course out of the whole program. Many people have to either retake the course or usually get a "C". Due to this I studied extra early and managed to get a 84.34% on the first test. While I would have obviously preferred an A, the class average was a 76% and out of all the people I knew in the class I got the highest score. (This was ESPECIALLY gratefying after the guy who sits next to me and acts like he knows everything in conjunction with trying to structure my studying methods got a 75%, that sure shut him up.)

On another note, I sent in my application last week for an internship with a commercial real estate firm, CBRE. Uncle Tim knows one of the major brokers in their firm and put me in contact with her for the opportunity. The internship is based out of their LA office and through the summary they provided on their website looks like a paid, 40 hour a week job.  Though I do not have much experience in the field I am hopeful that I can get the position and be able to learn more about the business. Keep your fingers crossed for me! Uncle Tim may have a new roommate this summer :)

Hope everyone is doing well!

Nicole

Coffee Shop I am currently sitting at called "Cartel"